On this Podcast, John Gonzalez talks to Axios sports reporter Jeff Tracy about the dwindling numbers for Little League baseball, which peaked in the 1990s. Jeff says the "professionalization" of youth sports, including the proliferation of travel baseball, has led to the decreased interest in Little League. As these players get ready to showcase their skills on the Little League World Series stage, which is broadcast by ESPN in primetime, this Podcast takes a closer look at the cultural change in America. Big League Dreaming Podcast co-host and pitching/recruiting coach at Indiana University - South Bend, Zane Gonzalez, was not able to be on the show, but made these observations:
"I think the biggest issue today is that everyone thinks travel is the end all be all for youth baseball today," Zane Gonzalez said. "It's basically like saying if you're not playing AAU basketball, you're not that good. Unfortunately travel baseball has become extremely watered down, even at the high school level. I'm starting to see more and more teams that are loaded with kids from the same two or three high schools, opposed to just five years ago when teams covered a large region. Travel ball is slowly turning into Little League with teams being located from one community.
"I'm not sure if it's because the idea of traveling to different areas and states to play is more attractive than playing at your same local park week in and week out. I don't think the number of kids playing is dropping off tremendously, but the number of Little League players is going to keep going down with this newfound desire for parents wanting their kids to have experiences they didn't have. It's basically the evolution of baseball in front of us."
Follow Zane Gonzalez on Twitter
https://twitter.com/ZaneGonzo36
Read his bio here:
https://iusbtitans.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/zane-gonzalez/215
Read the Axios article here:
Follow Jeff Tracy on Twitter
https://twitter.com/JeffreyTracy
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Also, on today's Podcast, John Gonzalez talked about this article, which claims that less than 1 percent of Little League World Series participants make it to the Show. It says that since 1947, only 58 players made it to the Major Leagues.
